Passover - the 7-day Jewish festival of Pesach, 15 Nisan, and the Seder

Passover (Pesach) is the 7-day Jewish festival on 15 Nisan (Hebrew calendar), commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. Observed with the Seder meal and the removal of chametz (leavened products). Date moves between late March and late April in the Gregorian calendar.

The one-line summary

7-day Jewish festival on 15 Nisan commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. The Seder meal on the first night (and second night in the diaspora) is the central ritual. Public holiday in Israel.

The Exodus narrative

The Exodus narrative, told in the Book of Exodus (chapters 1-15), describes the Israelites' enslavement in Egypt, the rise of Moses as their deliverer, the ten plagues brought upon Egypt, and the dramatic escape through the parting of the Red Sea. The tenth plague — the death of the Egyptian firstborn — is the origin of the festival's name: God "passed over" the Israelite houses marked with the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorposts, sparing them from the plague. The Seder plate (see below) preserves the central symbols of the narrative.

1. 1Water to blood
2. 2Frogs
3. 3Lice
4. 4Wild beasts
5. 5Pestilence
6. 6Boils
7. 7Hail
8. 8Locusts
9. 9Darkness
10. 10Death of the firstborn

The Seder

The Seder (literally "order") is the central ritual of Passover, held on the first night (in Israel) or the first two nights (in the diaspora). The Haggadah, a liturgical text recited during the meal, narrates the Exodus in a structured order of fifteen steps. The Seder features four cups of wine, matzah (unleavened bread), maror (bitter herbs), charoset (a sweet paste of fruits, nuts, and wine), a roasted shank bone, and a roasted egg.

Children play a central role: the youngest present asks the Four Questions (Ma Nishtana), and the leader answers with the Exodus story. The matzah commemorates the haste with which the Israelites left Egypt (no time for bread to rise); the maror recalls the bitterness of bondage; the charoset symbolises the mortar used by the Israelites for Pharaoh's buildings. The cup of wine for Elijah (Kos Eliyahu) is poured and the door opened to welcome the prophet, traditionally a sign of messianic anticipation.

Origin

Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals of the Jewish calendar (Shalosh Regalim) and dates to the agricultural calendar of the second millennium BCE. In Temple times, the festival marked the barley harvest and involved the bringing of the omer offering to the Temple. The historical narrative of the Exodus was associated with the festival during the First Temple period and fixed in its present form after the Babylonian exile.

Chametz removal

Chametz (leavened products) is forbidden during Passover. The prohibition is rooted in the narrative that the Israelites left Egypt so quickly that their bread did not have time to rise. Practically, chametz includes wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt (the five grains) that have come into contact with water for more than 18 minutes before baking. Observant households engage in a thorough cleaning (Bedikat Chametz) on the night before Passover, and any remaining chametz is sold to a non-Jew (or symbolically burned) on the eve of the festival.

Length: 7 days in Israel, 8 days abroad

Passover runs 7 days in Israel and 8 days in the diaspora. The added day in the diaspora reflects the historical uncertainty in calendar communication: when the ancient Sanhedrin declared the new moon and the festivals, Jews outside the Land of Israel often learned of the dates only after an additional day had passed, so the diaspora added a day to each festival as a margin of safety. The two Seders in the diaspora fall on the first and second nights; in Israel only one Seder is held.

How it is observed

The Seder is the central ritual: a ritual meal held on the first night (and second night in the diaspora), featuring the Haggadah narrative of the Exodus, four cups of wine, matzah, bitter herbs (maror), and symbolic foods. Chametz (leavened products) is removed from homes before the festival. Matzah is eaten throughout the week.

Legal status

Passover is a public holiday in Israel, with schools closed and most businesses on reduced hours. It is not a US federal holiday but is widely observed across the US Jewish community; many Jewish employees take time off for the first two days and the last two days.

The Counting of the Omer

Passover begins the 49-day Counting of the Omer, a liturgical period that ends with the festival of Shavuot. The count commemorates the seven weeks between the barley harvest offering and the wheat harvest offering in Temple times, and is interpreted theologically as the journey from the Exodus to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The Omer period is observed with semi-mourning practices in Orthodox communities (no weddings, no haircuts) and is associated with the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who, according to the Talmud, died in a single period — the origin of the mourning customs.

Where it is contested

The date of Passover and the count of the Omer have been points of historical disagreement between Rabbinic Judaism and the Karaites (a Jewish movement dating from the 8th century CE who reject the Oral Torah). The Karaites observe Passover based on a literal reading of the biblical injunction to begin the month with the ripened barley (aviv), not the fixed 15 Nisan date of the Rabbinic calendar. This produces occasional one-month-earlier Passover dates for Karaites.

In other countries

Passover is observed by Jewish communities worldwide. The largest Jewish populations outside Israel are in the US (estimated 7.5 million), France (about 450,000), Canada, the UK, Argentina, and Russia. Public observance outside Israel is generally limited to the Jewish community, though many schools and workplaces in major diaspora centres provide accommodation for the first and last days.

Passover by the numbers

Sources

• HebCal, Passover 2026: hebcal.com
• Chabad.org, Passover: chabad.org
• Encyclopedia Britannica, Passover: britannica.com
• Wikipedia, "Passover": en.wikipedia.org